Card-positioning attachment for typewriters



W. P. DE SAUSSURE, JR. CARD POSITIONING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS. APPLICATION FILED AUG-18, I917.

Patented May 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM P. DE SAUSSURE, JR., 0F ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NEW JERSEY.

CARD-POSITIONING ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS.

Application filed August 18; 1917.

T 0 all w 727cm it may concem Be it known that I, lVILLIA I P. DE SAUSSURE, J r., a citizen of the United States, residing at Englewood Cliffs, 1n the county of Bergen and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Positioning Attachments for Typewriters, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

My invention relates to a device whereby one or more cards may be readily inserted and held in the typewriter in a desired position. The principal object of my 1nvention is to provide a simple and effective device of the character stated which may be readily positioned in operative relation with respect to the machine and which, when so positioned, is capable of receiving the cards for any number of writings and to hold them in proper position, all of this being possible without removing the hold1ng device from operative position in the typewriter. Other objects of my invention will appear more fully hereinafter.

The invention in its preferred form consists of a thin sheet of flexible elastic material, such as paper, sheet metal, or other suitable substance, bent to provide a recess for supporting and holding the card in a given position with respect to the sheet, the sheet being capable of insertion into the typewriter so as to rest upon the platen thereof and to receive the cards and hold them in a desired position to receive thewriting. If desired, means may be provided for securing the sheet in operative relation to the typewriter platen.

In order that my invention may be better understood, attention is directed to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification and in which 2-- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing one form of my attachment with a plurality of superposed cards indicated .by dotted lines as arranged therein;

Fig. 2 is a central vertical cross-sectional view of a platen and coacting parts of a typewriter and of the attachment shown in Fig. 1, this view illustrating the placmg of the attachment in the typewriter;

Fig. 3 is a like view of the same parts and of cards to be written upon. this view showing the attachment secured in position Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 3, 1921.

Serial No. 186,934.

on the platen and illustrating the placing of the cards in the attachment;

Fig. 4 is a View similar to Figs. 2 and 3, showing a modified form of the attachment arranged in operative position in the typewriter.

Referring to the drawing, and first more particularly to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 thereof, the numeral 1 indicates the card holding and positioning sheet. This sheet is formed with two parallel horizontal bends 2 and 3 extending all the way across the sheet, the sheet being thereby formed with a 2-fold. The sheet thus formed is provided with a longitudinal horizontally extending recess 4 arranged to receive and support the card 5, the sheet being provided with end portions 6 and 7 extending in opposite directions away from the recess 4: and adapted to rest against the typewriter platen. The

, bend2 may be and best is in the form of a sharp crease, as shown, but the bend 3 is preferably formed, as by rounding the same slightly as shown, to space the front and rear walls of the recess 4; sufficiently apart at the bottom thereof to enable a plurality of cards to be supported in the recess in register with each other, as shown. Means, such as the mark 8 formed on the outside of the sheet 1, and extending from and at right angles to the crease 2, may be provided to indicate the proper position of the card longitudinally of the recess 1. The mark as shown is intended for use when only a single card or a single set of superposed cards is to be held in the attachment at a given time, but suitable marks may be provided for facilitating the positioning of a plurality of cards arranged side by side in the recess. The cards are positioned by bringing their left hand edges into register with the said mark. The form of card preferably employed by me has a front surface suitable for receiving the writing and a rear offsetting surface of carbon.

The sheet 1 may be made of any suitable flexible elastic material. paper or metal being preferred, although various other materials may be used. The thickness, which is shown exaggerated in the drawing may vary within certain limits; but I find that a thickness about equivalent to that of ordinary writing paper is very suitable. The width erable limits. As shown in Fig. 1 the width is suflicient to support a plurality of cards such as those shown at 5 side by side within the recess 4. The portion 6 of the sheet is best made of at least-sufficient height relatively to the height of the cards used as to extend somewhat above the'cards 5 when the latter are in position in the recess 4. The

part 7 of the sheet should at least be of such In the modification shown in Fig. 4, the portions 6 and 7 of the sheet are not of sufiicient length to enable them to meet when the sheet is in position on the platen. The depth of the recess 4 should be suflicient to enable the cards 5 to be supported and held in proper position by the sheet 1 without covering up the part of the card to be written upon. The sheet as shown in Fig. 1, is curved to take normally when oil the typewriter, the. shape of a cylinder slightly larger in diameter than the platen, but such curving of the sheet, while desirable, is not essential. In fact the sheet may normally be quite flat.

In order to assist in holding the sheet in operative position with respect to the platen, means, such as the adhesive tabs 9, are provided. In the device of Figs. 1, 2, and 3, a single tab of thin material is attached to the sheet with a portion of the adhesive surface adhering to the outer side of the lower or rear end of the sheet. An opening 10 is formed in the sheet under the tab to permit the adhesive surface of the latter to be pressed into engagement with the platen to anchor the sheet in position. If desired, the adhesive tab need not be secured to the sheet until the latter is in position on the platen. In the device shown in Fig. 4, a tab 9 is secured to each end of the sheet 1, the tabs extending beyond the ends of the sheet and being arranged to anchor the same in posi- 'tion on the platen.

In using my device or attachment, the sheet 1 may be placed in the typewriter between the platen l1 and the rollers 12 in the usual manner of placing ordinary sheets of paper to be written on, the part 6 of the sheet being inserted into the machine first and the face of the sheet containing the entrance to the recess 4 being away from the platen, as shown in Fig. 2, the platen being rotated to bring the sheet into position. The sheet, if not in proper position to enable the writing to be done at the roper place on the cards, may be readily shi ted or adjusted in the usual manner, asby pulling on the sheet to bring the same into proper position.

around the platen, and the tab pressed toward the platen to secure the overlapped ends of the sheet together, and when the opening 10 is provided, to cause a portion of the tab to be forced through the opening 10 and become secured to the platen. With the device shown in Fig. 4, the sheet is secured in'position on the platen by merely pressing the tabs against the latter after the sheet has been drawn tightly around the platen. lVith the attachment secured inposition on the platen, the latter is rotated to the position shown in Fig. 3, whereupon the cards are seated in the bottom of the recess 4. The sheet and cards may now by rotation of the platen be readily brought to proper operative position for writing upon the cards, as shown for example in Fig. 4, the cards being gripped by the walls of the recess as the outer wall is pressed inward, so that the cards are thus held firmly in position as the platen is turned. If it is desired, a card or cards 5 may be inserted into the recess 3 before the sheet 1 is placed in operative position upon the typewriter.

After the sheet 1 has been properly positioned on the typewriter, any number of single cards or sets of the cards may be inserted in the recess 4 so as to enable the cards to receive the typew'riting in the proper position. Allof the cards that are. written upon while the sheet 1 is in position will occupy the same position with respect to the platen. It is evident that instead of writing a plurality of cards, at one time as ribbon and carbon copies, the attachment when in place may be used to write upon one card at a time, the principal advantage of the attachment being that each card writ ten upon will be supported in the recess 3 in the same relative position on the platen as the othercards. Another advantage resulting from the invention is the saving of time in placing the various cards or sets of cards in position in the typewriter. l Vith the invention, the platen need not be moved a distance greater than through an are having a length equal to the height of the card to carry the latter into operative position. I-Ieretofore, to effect the same result, it has been necessary to rotate the platen sufiiciently to carry the card from the back to the front of the machine.

The cards 5 may be made of paper or any other suitable material for receiving the writing; and it is to be understood that the word card as herein used is not limited to any particular size, form or thickness of device or to any particular material for receiving the written matter.

The card may be, and preferably is, made somewhat flexible and'may be made of a thickness of ordinary writing paper. The oflsetting material need not of course be formed directly on the sheets which are to receive the writing, but ordinary carbon paper may be used in the usual manner of making ribbon and carbon copies.

It.is to be understood that modifications other than those described may be made in the invention without departing from the scope and spirit thereof.

What I claim is:

1. An attachment for typewriters comprising a sheet of flexible elastic material bent in opposite directions on parallel lines to provide a recess for receiving a card and positioning the same in operative relation to the typewriter platen, said sheet having portions extending in opposite directions beyond said recess and adapted to rest upon the typewriter platen, the downwardly extending portion bein of sufficient length to be held against the p aten by the sheet gripping devices of the typewriter in the various operative positions of the sheet, and said sheet being provided with means for securing the same in operative relation to the typewriter platen.

2. An attachment for typewriters, comprising a sheet of flexible elastic material provided with means for supporting a card with a portion of its face exposed, said sheet having portions extending in opposite directions beyond its card supporting means and adapted to extend about the typewriter platen, and a iece of adhesive sheet material for securing the ends of said sheet together when said sheet is in position on the platen, said sheet being formed to permit a portion of the adhesive material to come into engagement with the platen.

3. In a typewriter, the combination of a platen, a thin sheet of flexible elastic material carried by said platen with its ends overlapping, said sheet being adapted to receive a card to be written upon and to hold the same in a desired position with respect to the platen, and means for securing the ends of said sheet together.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIYAM P. DE SAUSSURE, JR.

Witnesses:

DAVID LEWIS, FREDERICK BAOHMANN. 

